# Prairie Schooner

Prairie Schooner is a literary magazine published quarterly at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with the cooperation of UNL's English Department and the University of Nebraska Press. It is based in Lincoln, Nebraska and was first published in 1926. It was founded by Lowry Wimberly and a small group of his students, who together formed the Wordsmith Chapter of Sigma Upsilon (a national honorary literary society).
Although many assume it is a regional magazine, it is nationally and internationally distributed and publishes writers from all over the United States and the world.
Prairie Schooner has garnered reprints, and honorable mentions in the Pushcart Prize anthologies and various of the Best American series, including Best American Short Stories, Best American Essays, Best American Mystery Stories, and Best American Nonrequired Reading.

## Editors

Prairie Schooner's current editor (2011–present) is Jamaican/Ghanaian poet and author Kwame Dawes.

### Previous editors

* 1926–1956 Lowry Wimberly
* 1956–1963 Karl Shapiro
* 1963–1980 Bernice Slote
* 1980–1987 Hugh Luke
* 1987–2011 Hilda Raz

## Notable contributors

* Jacob M. Appel
* Beth Bachmann
* Joseph Payne Brennan
* Charles Bukowski
* Robert Olen Butler
* Truman Capote
* Raymond Carver
* Judith Ortiz Cofer
* Rita Dove
* Richard Foerster
* Marilyn Hacker
* Lillian Halegua
* Albert Halper
* Michael Derrick Hudson
* Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
* Hugh Kenner
* Jesse Lee Kercheval
* Russell Kirk
* Ted Kooser
* Diane Lockward
* Lee Martin
* Joyce Carol Oates
* Sharon Olds
* Alicia Ostriker
* Lori Ostlund
* Octavio Paz
* Robert Peters
* Carol Potter
* Alberto Rios
* Susanna Roxman
* Mari Sandoz
* Susan Fromberg Schaeffer
* Tim Schaffert
* Enid Shomer
* R. T. Smith
* Jim Thompson
* Chris Ware
* Eudora Welty
* Tennessee Williams
* Ladette Randolph

## Glenna Luschei Fund and awards

In 2001, the magazine and its editorship were endowed in perpetuity by poet and literary philanthropist Glenna Luschei under the Glenna Luschei Fund for Excellence at the University of Nebraska Foundation. In addition to funding the magazine and its special projects, the endowment funds one $1,500 Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award and ten $250 Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Awards every year. The Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry is run by the African Poetry Book Fund in partnership with Prairie Schooner and is also named for and funded by Glenna Luschei.

## Raz-Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize

The Raz-Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize is an American literary award presented yearly since 2003, one award for poetry and one award for fiction. It is run by the literary magazine Prairie Schooner and University of Nebraska Press. Winners receive $3,000 and publication through the University of Nebraska Press. Manuscripts are accepted from all living writers, including non-US citizens, writing in English.

### Past Winners

| Year | Fiction | Poetry |
| 2003 | K. L. Cook, Last Call | Cortney Davis, Leopold's Maneuvers |
| 2004 | Brock Clarke, Carrying the Torch | Rynn Williams, Adonis Garage |
| 2005 | John Keeble, Nocturnal America | Kathleen Flenniken, Famous |
| 2006 | Jesse Lee Kercheval, The Alice Stories | Paul Guest, Notes for My Body Double |
| 2007 | Katherine Vaz, Our Lady of the Artichokes and Other Portuguese-American Stories | Mari L'Esperance, The Darkened Temple |
| 2008 | Anne Finger, Call Me Ahab | Kara Candito, Taste of Cherry |
| 2009 | Ted Gilley, Bliss, and Other Short Stories | Shane Book, Ceiling of Sticks |
| 2010 | Greg Hrbek, Destroy All Monsters | James Crews, The Book of What Stays |
| 2011 | Karen Brown, Little Sinners (submitted as "Leaf House") | Susan Blackwell Ramsey, A Mind Like This |
| 2012 | Xhenet Aliu, Domesticated Wild Things | Orlando Ricardo Menes, Fetish |
| 2013 | Amina Gautier, Now We Will Be Happy | R. A. Villanueva, Reliquaria |
| 2014 | Bryn Chancellor, When Are You Coming Home? | Jennifer Perrine, No Confession, No Mass |
| 2015 | Dustin M. Hoffman, One-Hundred Knuckled Fist | Safiya Sinclair, Cannibal |
| 2016 | Venita Blackburn, Black Jesus and Other Superheroes | Susan Gubernat, The Zoo at Night |
| 2017 | Sara Batkie, Better Times | Luisa Muradyan, American Radiance |
| 2018 | Liz Breazeale, Extinction Events: Stories | Aria Aber, Hard Damage |
| 2019 | Megan Cummins, If the Body Allows It | Jihyun Yun, Some Are Always Hungry |
| 2020 | Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry, What Isn’t Remembered | Susan Nguyen, Dear Diaspora |
| 2021 | Karin Lin-Greenberg, Vanished | Mónica Gomery, Might Kindred |
| 2022 | Gen Del Raye, Boundless Deep and Other Stores | Jared Harél, Let Our Bodies Change the Subject |
| 2023 | Janelle Bassett, Thanks for This Riot | Lory Bedikian, Jagadakeer: Apology to the Body |